Jan Zimmermann
Jan Zimmermann studied Interdisciplinary Natural Sciences at ETH and received his PhD in Physical Chemistry from the University of Zurich in 2008. In 2009 he joined Swiss embroidery manufacturer Forster Rohner to develop and lead a new business unit for technical textiles. With a strong focus on innovation and a cross disciplinary approach, collaborations with research institutions across the country resulted in several successful KTI/CTI (now Innosuisse) innovation projects, of which two were nominated for the Design Prize Switzerland and two received the Techtextil Innovation Award. As frequent guest and keynote speaker at international conferences on technical textiles, Jan has built a strong network in the field and is still actively involved, advising intitiatives like the now.you platform for fashion robotics, the Biodesign Hub or Start-up companies like Carpetlight GmbH.
In 2018 he returned to ETH Zurich as Industry Relations Manager, supporting companies and researchers in developing joint research initiatives. Here his passion for innovation and textiles also shines through and under his guidance, ETH research groups and Spin-off companies will exhibit at the world’s largest trade fair for technical textiles, Techtextil 2021, for the first time.
